WH denial of reality

[ginnyinWI]

That's how they live with themselves. An interesting read at Raw Story. The columnist explores the mindset at work. And don't miss the comments-- several people had good things to add. First four paragraphs:

THE PLAME AFFAIR
Heart of darkness
By John Steinberg | RAW STORY COLUMNIST

As the Plamegate imbroglio festers, the question finally on many lips and a growing number of newspaper headlines is, “What did the President know, and when did he know it?” An important question, to be sure, but I would like to suggest another, perhaps more revealing question: how did he know it?

The White House is not in any hurry to tell us how much Bush knew or when he knew it. But I think we can intuit a great deal about how. Almost a year ago, Scott McClellan told us that “The president knows that Karl Rove wasn't involved,” but the White House has refused to elaborate. I doubt that McClellan was freelancing here: Bush may well have told him exactly that – no more and no less.

My internal Venn diagram of the sets “Bush speaks” and “Bush lies” has the two circles overlapping almost completely. Paradoxically, I suspect that, at least in the wiggle-the-polygraph sense, he might actually be telling the truth this time. Because, without getting into a "depends-on-what-your-definition-of -'is'-is" discussion, I would not be surprised if Bush actually believes he does know it -- not in the way most of us would recognize, but as he defines knowing. And that distinction takes us to a deeper question, and the very heart of the danger George Bush represents.

Post-Enlightenment folks tend to think of knowledge as an empirical thing: knowledge is the product of evidence that comports with a theory or world view. As such, we seek data, and when the data are inconclusive or inconsistent with expectation, we admit that we don’t know.

http://www.rawstory.com/exclusives/steinberg/heart_of_darkness_072905.htm

[Island Blue]

1. Excellent column. Thanks for posting.

I see Bush* and his core band of supporters as being almost cult-like. (Although I'm not quite sure if Shrub is the leader or just another follower.) Don't question what we say, what we say is because we say it is - that's all you need to know. (Please note that I don't believe that everyone who voted for Shrub has totally fallen into a trance. Just a lot of the folks.)

I know a lot of people who voted for Bill Clinton and thought he did a fine job as a President, but I don't know of anyone who agreed with everything he said and did 100% of the time. Likewise, even among our group of Kerry lovers, I'm sure that we could all find areas of disagreement with John. (Even if they're small areas.)

Hard core Bush* supporters seem to follow him without question which is exactly what he requires of them. Even after 4+ years of this administration* I'm still amazed at the lies that flow from the White House on almost a daily basis, presented as the truth and I'm still amazed at the number of people with "W The President" stickers on the backs of their cars who act as if he's an infallible god.

[ginnyinWI]

2. yeah.

This administration doesn't trouble itself about making sense, or justifying itself at all. They just do what they do, and base it all on their 'guts'. And since they don't ever look back and analyze themselves for mistakes, they never self-correct. They just add another layer of B.S. and call it fixed. Seems like to them, it doesn't matter what is, it only matters what people think it is. The slogan "might makes right" applies here.

Ha--I'm sure a lot of people are trusting this bunch to know what's what and handle things that "mere mortals" fail to understand. The people don't realize (at least up until lately) that these guys are just a bunch of incompetents who are in way over their heads. I thought president-worship went out with Nixon. But I guess not.

[Island Blue]

3. I have a hard time keeping up with all of their lies.

They constantly change things mid-lie which makes it confusing. I mean if you're gonna lie to me, at least have the courtesy to pick one lie and stick with it. Maybe that's their ultimate goal - to muddy the waters so badly with their constantly changing stories that no one is quite sure what they originally said. (Or maybe like you said, they are just a bunch of total incompetents.) Thank God for folks like Jon Stewart who keep the video tape rolling and are able to remind us of what they said before they said something different.